17 An Endearing Memory

"How was your day?" Roland greeted his tired-looking wife as he stood up and approach her from behind his desk.

Anna had entered his study as soon as the younger generation went out. She had heard everything from outside.

She went forward and gave her beloved a brief gentle hug.

"It's getting worse. Just today, the number of forest fires were doubled from last week." She answered exhaustedly. "However, the ladies were exceptional. Firefighting had never been easier. We just need to handle the larger hard-to-control ones. The smaller ones were taken care by our own proactive citizen firefighter squad." Anna was touched by everyone's cooperation.

"Thank you. It must've been hard on you."

Anna responded with a gentle smile and shook her head lightly. Her beautiful flowing flaxen hair loosened a little like strands of silk billowing by the wind. She didn't tie up her hair and let it loose because she knew her beloved loved it this way.

Roland unconsciously extended his fingers and tucked the lose strands behind her left ear lovingly. Every time he looked into that pair of clear light blue eyes, he kept on falling in love with them again and again.

"I need to go somewhere. Accompany me?" Roland whispered in her ear after a moment of pause.

Anna nodded.

As they laced their fingers together, they walked out side by side from the study.

....

In the Royal Neverwinter Cemetery for Martyrs, Roland and Anna were standing before a spacious tomb while holding hands. On his other hand, he was holding a large bouquet of beautiful luminescent pale pink roses with packet of honeyed dried fish strip.

The silent night was especially serene as the full moon hung low with twinkling of stars adorning the purplish black carpet.

The tomb was large, beautiful and tidy. A bench was erected opposite the tomb. However, everyone visiting the grave had never dared to sit on it. It was a silent rule that the bench was especially made for the immortal king for when he visited the grave.

Nightingale. Veronica Gilen.1318 - 1354. Legendary Valkryie of Neverwinter.

He knew Nightingale's body must've turned to dust by now. However, his feelings for her was still there, turning into warm, endearing memories. He knew that Anna knew it too. Both of them had come to peace with it.

Nightingale had been beside him as he claimed the throne as the King of Graycastle. She persisted beside him when he chose Anna to be the Queen of Graycastle albeit staying with a broken heart. She was there protecting him when the war of Divine Will occurred. She's still beside him when he became the Emperor of the new Graycastle Empire, although she refused to appear in front of him anymore.

At that time, Roland had seriously considered taking her as his royal paramour. She had sacrificed long enough for him. Even Anna consented with his decision a long time ago.

However, before it could happen, Nightingale sacrificed her body to save the only child of Roland and Anna. Anna and the baby were dying at that time due to some error from the artificial insemination process during the last growth phase.

The baby was grown ex-situ (1) but needed a huge amount of magical energy to sustain its growth. The method was jointly developed by Roland himself with the help of Agatha and Celine; a combination of science and magic. However, reality was a cruel thing. The price was more than what Roland could anticipate, as Anna's magic capacity was one of the highest among the witches. He never knew it won't be enough to support a tiny little babe.

The accident happened when Roland was not there. A power outrage pulled him away for a short moment, as Anna struggled to sustain the life of the growing baby in the artificial pond. Anna gave away almost all her powers. When Nightingale realized this, she poured in her own power into Anna's body with the help of Marquess Passi until she perished. It also nearly took the life of the marquess.

Roland arrived a step too late.

He could only salvage her soul and placed it inside his domain.

Contrary to Roland guilt and sadness, Nightingale was the happiest when she spent her time inside of Roland's world.

Roland kept on trying to construct a suitable artificial body for Nightingale but to no avail. Nightingale's soul couldn't adhere to the new vessel every single time. He silently suspected that Nightingale herself choose not to leave his world.

A few hundred years later, her consciousness slowly dissipated within his world. However, she let go with a smile on her face, with a 'Thank you' parting them.

Roland had never been able to forgive himself for this. It was the only time he attempted the child bearing experiment. The danger was too large. It reminded him of the God Judgement Army, but with a heavier price.

Over the years, the child grew up well. Anna had always said; the child was hers and Nightingale's. Silvie had also confirmed the existence of both Anna and Nightingale's magical signature on the princess.

The matured princess had grown into an exemplary witch and married worthy Neverwinter citizen. Later on, to the couple's surprise, she conceived a single descendant. It continued down until today.

When the government officials knew their King's descendant could pass the throne down, they adamantly rejected the immortal king's preparation to make the empire a democratic nation. For once, the citizens, officials and even the oppositions were united until Roland had no choice but to relent.

"You should let her go." Anna whispered.

Roland sighed deeply.

"Look at Linneia. She is such a headstrong girl. Don't you think she resembles Nightingale a lot?" Anna added while smiling.

Roland's cloudy expression lightened.

After a few minutes of silence, he said, "I can see the similarities. That is why I like to tease her so much." Roland chuckled lightly.

They lightly kissed.

"Let's visit the rest of the sisters tomorrow." Anna leaned her head on Roland's shoulder.

"Sure."

....

Author's note:

(1) Ex-situ: outside (the opposite of insitu, inside). So when a baby was grown in a mother's womb, it is considered in-situ, which is inside of its natural location. Ex-situ might means a glass vessel, an artificial growth pod, etcs.